'LIFE'S MYSTERY.' 



..d; 



On no subject has the Church been more sorely tempted by 
an ambiguous creed and a shuffling faith, than on the Origin 
of Evil. With much humble and sincere deprecation of dog- 
matism, but with plainly imperfect avoidance of it, (our ances- 
tors being but men, who were not to "be made perfect" with- 
out us, and whose earthly career we should accordingly honor, 
as the ground on which we stand rather than as the heaven 
we aspire to,) it has been virtually assumed since the time of 
Augustine to be settled. Meantime the most troublesome dis- 
senters from the current Christianity have derived their keen- 
est weapons from tlie^reater or less implication in the prevail- 
ing view on this point (See e.g., J. S. MiWs Autobiography, p. 40). 
For the cheerful toleration of the following piece, it will suffice 
to regard the question as really unsettled, although, perhaps, 
the mere possibility of the view therein suggested may be 
practically equivalent to its certainty, and may seem to pre- 
clude the hope of any other settlement. 



Sentence omitted, at the blank space on page 15, not because of 
intrinsic unfitness, but because it might startle some readers 
as pretentious and inconsistent with the condescending mod- 
esty which afterward claims credit only for guessing at truth, 
viz. : — 

" For in it the soul has free scope for its loftiest aspirations, 
"and for its widest and deepest sympathies ; strongest incen- 
" tives to zeal ; surest guidance for activity ; solace in every 
" distress ; suj^port under every difficulty ; added cause for ex- 
" ultation in every success ; renewed resolution in every de- 
" feat." 

— Editor. 



> 5 



p^' 



d 



'LIFE'S MYSTERY. 



THE WISDOM WHICH IS FROM ABOVE IS FIRST PURE. 

Jcwies iii. 17. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
HENRY LONGSTRETH. 

1314 CHESTNUT STREET. 
'873. 






Brethren, be not children in understanding. 

I Cor. xiv, 20. 

In what he leaves unsaid, I discover the master of style, 

Schiller. 

The world is seldom the worse for the shock which it 
receives when some one speaks out a strong belief in unseen 
realities, even though not always in the wisest way. 

Vaughan {^Hours with the Mystics). 



COLLINS, PRINTER. 



'LIFE'S mystery; 



'Old-fashioned Ethics, and Common-sense Metaphy- 
sics.' By William Thomas Thornton. Macmillan & 
Co. : London, 1873. 



Divine goodness, inasmuch as the creature's moral ideal 
cannot be superior to his Creator's, must be at least as vast 
as human imagination : God must be at least as good as 
man can conceive Him. But how, by goodness so trans- 
cending, conjoined with immeasurable might, can the co- 
existence of evil be tolerated? To this last, and perhaps 
greatest among the many great questions brought forward 
for renewed discussion in these pages, I have long had by 
me an attempt at a reply, which, finding myself unable 
either to strengthen or shorten it by turning it into prose, 
I venture to submit in its original rhythmical form. 

A Voice came to me as I sate apart, 

Pondering the burthen of life's mystery, 
In dim perplexity, with troubled heart. 

With whisper weak and faint it came to me. 
Like feeble glimmer of the struggling moon 

To wildered mariner on midnight sea: 
With whisper weak at first, but strengthening soon, 

Like the moon's beam when filmy clouds disperse, 
And through my scattered doubts, with quiet tune. 

Uttering in clear, apocalyptic verse, 
Truth, which for comfort and monition sent, 

E'en as the Voice revealed, do I rehearse. 



'What art thou? Whence derived? With what intent Seif-com- 

Placed where perpetual hindrances exhaust Ihemifageof 

Thy wasted strength, in baffled effort spent? external ex- 

Where in blind maze, with crafty windings crossed, p^"*^"*^^- 



With stumbling-blocks beset, witli pitfalls strewed, 

Thou wanderest, in endless error lost; 
Athirst beside glad rivers that elude. 

With mocking lapse, thy tantalized pursuit, 
And hungering where gilded husks delude 

With bitter ashes, as of Dead Sea fruit. 
Ashes of Hope, but seed of Discontent, 

That rears its upas-growth from blighted root? 
Around, thou hear'st Creation eloquent 

Hymning creative attributes, and seest 
The starry marvels of the firmament. 

And marvels of the nearer earth, released 
By impulse from within, not dimly shown, 

Nor planlier in the greatest than the least: 
And, thro' the known discovering the unknown, 

Acknowledgest thy Maker, — power supreme. 
Might, and dominion, deeming His alone. 

Nor His the lax dominion mayst thou deem 
That builds up empire, and when built neglects. 

Lo ! where, afar, sidereal orbits gleam, 
What first impelled, impelling still, directs: 

Urges and guides each solar chariot, 
The mundane mass of every globe connects, 

By its own energy cohering not. 
E'en as dead leaves, decaying languidly. 

Not from themselves derive the force to rot. 



Undeniable 
capacity for, 
and con- 
scious want 
of divine life 
and order. 



'All-strengthening, all-sustaining Deity, 

Diffused throughout the infinite, abides, 
Dwells and upholds: — then, haply, dwells in thee? 

Yea, verily. Within thy frame resides 
What, by its movement only mayst thou know. 

The circling blood, thy being's ambient tides, — • 
Is 't thine own will that bids them ebb and flow, 

And from their inundating flood depose 
Organic germs, whence health and vigor grow? 

Yet, though such witness serve thee to disclose 
In human tenement divine abode. 

Not thine be the material creed that shows 
The spirit's birthplace in the moulded clod ; 

Not thine the pantheist raving, that because 
God dwelleth in thee, thou thyself art God. 



Bethink thee — is 't self-reverence that o'erawes 
Thy prostrate soul, and from thy faltering tongue, 

Subdued, involuntary homage draws? 
And when by harrowing pang thy heart is wrung, 

Is 't for self-aid thy wandering eyes inquire, 
Heavenward, at length, in fervid suppliance flung? 

And from thy native slough of sensual mire, 
Is 't to the mark of thine own purity 

Thy loftier aims and holier hopes aspire? 
Harshly thy fleshly fetters bear on thee, 

In dark and dreary prison-house confined, 
Cramped and diseased with long captivity; 

And hath divine Intelligence designed 
That noisome dungeon for her own restraint — 
By her own act to galling bonds consigned— 
Self-doomed, with wilful purpose to acquaint 

Herself with sin and sorrow, and pollute 
^thereal essence with corporeal taint? 

How doth thy helpless misery confute 
That frantic boast of vain conceit, untaught 

The paltriest of its plans to execute ! 
Hast thou the art to add, by taking thought. 

One cubit to thy stature? and hast thou, 
Or such as thou, Nature's whole fabric wrought? 

Not thine such vaunt — not thine to disavow 
The lustre of thy genuine origin. 

To the Most Highest, as thine author, bow 
With rapture of exulting faith, wherein 

Devotion's cravings their desire achieve. 
The bright ideal that they imaged, win ! 

Rejoice that thus 'tis given thee to believe, — 
To recognize transcending majesty. 

Worthy all praise — all honor to receive : 
Rejoice in that high presence, gratefully 

Offering the vows that thy full heart dilate: 
Rejoice that thence there floweth light, whereby 

Thy emulative quest to elevate 
Thitherward, where unblemished holiness 
Irradiates sovereignty, benign as great. 

'But here thou pausest, scrupling to confess Theui.ex- 

A i:)rovidence of aspect all benign. plained ifnot 



inexplicable Fear not that sceptic scruple to express, 
blemish. Of truth, Ahnighty Goodness could assign 

Good only to the work of His own hand, 

Warmed into life by His own breath divine: 
And when unchecked Beneficence had planned 

A home for creatures of a fragile race. 
Evoked from nothingness at His command, 

Nor care, nor want, nor anguish should have place, 
Nor fraud betray, nor violence oppress. 

Nor hate inflame, nor wallowing lust debase, 
Nor aught be found, save what conspired to bless 

The sentient clay, wrought surely for that end, — 
For wherefore wrought, if not for happiness? 

Evil notne- ' Not, as somc tcach, for mastery to contend 
cessaryasa With fate, — in doubtful conflict to engage, — 

mere gym- _, ,. . . , •. , j 

nastic of Struggling, HI paui and peril, to ascend 
morals. Slowly, through this probationary stage, 

Sore let, but tried and chastened, and thereby 

Earning on earth a heavenly heritage. 
"Was there then need that prescience should try, 

By ordeal pitiless, assured event. 
Disclosed beforehand to prophetic eye? 

Need was there, by austere experiment. 
To test the frailty and the fall foreknown 

Of man, beneath o'erwhelming burthen bent? 
They who In this was tutelar prevision shown? 
know the Hardly may he in such belief confide, 

ravages of •' ^ 

sin, will not Who sces his fellow myriads left to groan 
soattnbute ^^^ barren penance, without light or guide, 

its origin to . . , 

Almighty E'cu from their birth by festering vice controlled, 
Goodness, Doomcd as they cross life's threshold — doomed untried. 

nor the 'As hardly, too, may he the dogma hold, 
teachers of That fcttcrs reasou with a graduate chain 

evolution, to "-^ 

evolution. Of beiugs, linked in order manifold, 

Where, to each link, 'tis given to sustain 

A part subservient to the general weal, — 
Duly to share the mutual burthen's strain: — 

Though who from such allotment would appeal, 
Could it be truth that wisdom's masterpiece 

Such aid could lack, such feebleness conceal. 



Suing its own constituents for release 
From wrong innate, throughout its texture wove, 

By hard necessity, not light caprice? 
But to what purport could premonished Love 

A system twined with mutual suffering weave, 
When but a word all suffering would remove? 

And wherefore yet delayeth the reprieve 
Of Love, that doth not willingly afflict 

Its children, neither wantonly aggrieve? 
Can aught the gracious purpose interdict 

Of Him, whose piercing eye, whose boundless sway. 
No cloud can dim, no barrier restrict? 

Say'st thou, "By path inscrutable, and way 
Past finding out, perchance, may mercy bend 

To its own use, whate'er its course would stay, 
And through the laboring world high mandate send 

That all things work together unto good. 
Work, though by means corrupt, to righteous end?" 

Beware how such conjectures must conclude. 
Can means impure Omnipotence befit, 
And clog the range of its solicitude? 
Can finite bonds confine the Infinite ? 

Though man, by choice of ill, must needs off"end, 
Need God do ill that good may come of it? 

Must havoc's mad typhoon perforce descend? 
May naught else serve to fan the stagnant air? 

Must captive flame earth's quaking surface rend, 
Or seek escape in lava flood ? And ere 

Effete society new structure raise. 
Must dearth or pestilence the ground prepare? 

Thus is it, that a parent's care purveys 
His bounty, and, exacting rigorously 

The price in tears, each boon's full cost defrays? — 
Thus with vain thrift withholding the decree, 

That from his treasury's exhaustless store 
To all could grant unbought felicity? 



'Oil, Lord I 
how long?' 



' God cannot 
be tempted 
with evil, 
neither temp- 
teth he any 



' But haply still 'tis reasoned (and with more 

Of reason's semblance were the plea maintained), 

That higher yet would life's ambition soar, 
Not for mere scheme of happiness ordained, 

But for advance in virtue,— for the growth 



Even tile tri- 
umph over 
peril and op- 
position, un- 
essential to 
ideal happi- 
ness, 



By patient zeal and meek endurance gained : 
That, at the table of voluptuous sloth, 

Though banqueted on sweets without alloy, 
Unsated were a generous nature, loth 

To feast where unearned lusciousness would cloy, 
Faint with the tedium of unbroken rest, 

Sick with the sameness of unruffled joy: 
That for more poignant pleasure, and of zest 

Heightened and edged by healthful exercise, — 
For scope wherein her conscious strength to test 

In keen pursuit and venturous enterprise, 
For dear exemplars, in whose course serene 

Affection's tearful warmth might sympathize, — 
For these the yearning mind would languish, e'en 

Though with all else that v/ish could name endued, 
While, in her striving for self-discipline, 

Foiled, and with fervid impulses imbued 
Vainly, where neither aught could valor dare, 

Nor aught confront and challenge fortitude : 
And where no outward token could declare 

The hidden worth congenial heart would hail, — 
Hail with each kindred chord vibrating there ; 

Since virtue wakes not but when griefs assail. 
Or travail burthens, or temptations try, 

Slumbering supine, till roused by adverse gale, 
In the deep sleep of moral lethargy, 

Joy's fullest cup, by hope or doubt unstirred, 
Curdling the while to dull satiety. 

since both ' Thus haply have some reasoned, undeterred 
are excluded g., reasoning, with equal emphasis 

in Heaven, . 

But counter ami, as readily preferred : 

Since Heaven's perfection striveth not, nor is 
In peril lest it lapse to apathy. 

Or lassitude invade its tranquil bliss. 
And were it as they deem, and righteously 

Were man adjudged with his brow's sweat to eat 
Bread leavened with embittering misery. 

E'en then affliction's measure to complete, 
Amply might pain, and want, and death suffice, 

And feeling's blight, and baffled love's defeat. 
And on the altar of self-sacrifice, 



Hope's Avithered blooms by resignation laid : 
Nor were it needed that incarnate vice, 

In human mould, in the same image made, 
Trampled with iron hoof his fellow man. 

Virtue's chastised development to aid. 
For whence was Vice derived? Ere life began, 

For His own offspring, could their Maker trace 
Their loathsome office, and beneath his ban 

Place them, accurst (creating to debase), 
And doom as fuel for the flames that test 

A favored few, elect by partial grace ? 



and outright 
malice at any 
rate, is not to 
be so ac- 
counted for. 



nor God (it 
would seem) 
so to be mag- 
nified. 



* Elect or outcast — if alike confessed 

Of the same parent, sons — brethren who bear 
No differing lineaments, save those imprest 

By his prevision — in their parent's care 
Should not all be partakers? Should not all 

Freely, alike, his nurturing guidance share? 
Are any worthier? 'Tis that warning's call 

Extends to them alone — 'tis that to them 
Alone is given vigor, wherewithal 

Temptation's fraudful violence to stem; — • 
And how shall He, who needful strength denies, 

Weakness, for its predestined fall, condemn ? 
How, when the creature of His wrath replies 

With feeble wail and inarticulate moan. 
The sighing of that contrite heart despise? 

What man amongst thy fellows hast thou known, 
Who, if his son ask fish, will jeeringly 

Give him a serpent, or for bread a stone? 
If ye, being evil, at your children's cry 

Know how to give good gifts, should not much more 
Your heavenly Father His good things supply 

To them who ask Him? Should He not restore 
A cleansed heart within them, and renew 

An upright spirit? not, v.'hat they implore 
Reversing, and restraining, lest they do 

The good they would — constraining them withal 
To do the evil they would fain eschew? 

How wilt thou to the same original 
Whence all just thoughts and pure desires proceed, 

Impute corrupt imaginings, whose thrall 



Predestina- 
rian rashness 



.^o^^l. 



10 



Enslaves anew the soul but newly freed 

From their pollution? Can a hybrid growth 
Arise spontaneous from unmingled seed? 

Are grapes upon the bramble borne, or doth 
The fig bear olive berries? Canst thou show 

Twin waters, sweet and bitter, issuing both 
From the same fountain? Neither should there flow 

Blessing and cursing from one mouth, nor yet 
From the same Providence both weal and woe. 



' That wliich 
may be 
known of 
God is mani- 
fest in them," 
even, 'who 
hold the 
truth in un- 
righteous- 
ness.' 



' Vile as thou art, oft-times in thee have met 

Mercy and Truth — and Peace and Righteousness 
Have kissed each other ; and thine heart is set 

Oft-times to follow what is just; redress, 
Where thou hast trespassed, rendering; oft-times, too, 

Forgiving other's trespass; to distress 
Thou grudgest not its sympathetic due 

Of kindly deed, or word, or mutual tears; 
Nor in vain wholly laborest to subdue 

The hydra host whose foul miasm blears 
Thy vision, and the distant gleam obscures 

That dimly through thy prison casement peers. 
E'en to the darkened dungeon that immures 

Thy soul, some feeble glimmer finds its way. 
Crushed beneath earthly durance, still endures 

Some lingering fire below that weight of clay, 
Some generous zeal, some honest hardihood, 

Some faith — some charity. — And whence are they, 
If not of Him whose quickening breath endued 

All things with life, — who, when he looked upon 
What He had made, beheld that all was good? — 

All good, but chiefly man, in whom alone 
Some likeness of Himself — some clouded light. 

From His own countenance reflected, shone? 
Doth not the sun outshine the satellite? 

And shall not He who in the murkiest hour 
Of sin's defilement, streaks thy dreary night 

With beams that bid thee, lower yet and lower 
Descending, hope perchance to rise again, — 

Say ! shall not He in holiness as power 
Transcend the creature whom His gifts sustain? 

And here, if sneering casuist blaspheme, 



II 

And, to divided nature's sovereign a warning. 

Ascribe in nature's opposite extreme 
Like eminence, and nature's God aver 

In evil, even as in good, supreme, — 
Heed not ; or ask if man's Artificer, 

With His own work in virtue matched, can prove 
At once more holy and unholier ! 

'Yet since all good is fruit of love, and love The stiu re- 

Worketh no ill, how still doth ill abound? cumngprob- 

lem — evil 

Is't haply that with love a rival strove? competing 

Mark well this parable. In chosen ground with good, 

Only good seed a husbandman had sown, 

Yet when the blade sprang up, therewith he found 
Tares that amid the stifled wheat had grown. 

Then knew he well, how, entering unawares, 
This, while men slept, an enemy had done. 

And 'tis an enemy who, scattering tares 
Amid the corn sown in Creation's field, 

With deadly coil the growing plant ensnares. 
And no mean enemy, nor one unsteeled 

For bold defiance, nor reduced to cower 
Ever in covert ambuscade concealed ; 

But at whose hest the ravening hell-hounds scour 
A wasted world, while himself prowls to seek. 

Like roaring lion, whom he may devour, 
And upon whom his rancorous wrath to wreak, 

Sniffing the tainted steam of slaughter's breath. 
And lulled by agony's despairing shriek. 

For he it is who hath the power of death, 
Even the Devil, by whom entereth sin 

Into the world, and death engendereth : 
Yea ! by whom entereth whatsoe'er within 

Warreth against the spirit, — sordid greed, 
Pride, carnal lust, envy to lust akin, 

And malice, and deceit, whose treacheries breed 
Strife between brethren, and the faith o'erthrow 

Of many, and the duped deserters lead, 
Beneath the banner of their deadliest foe. 

In rebel arms a Parent to defy, 
W^iom, by His gifts alone. His children kno>v. 



12 



and judg- 
ment 

mingled with 
mercy. 



* Not less that Parent marks with pitying eye 

The blinded rage that rivets its own chain : 
Not less to His own glorious liberty 

Seeks, from corruption's bondage, to regain 
His erring children, — by device, or lewd 

Or threatening, lured or goaded to their bane: 
Not less to overcome evil with good 

Labors, and shall therewith all things subdue 
Unto Himself — but hath not yet subdued. 

And wherefore? Wherefore tarrieth He, while through 
Eden, by daring foray oft defaced, 

Marauding fiends malignant raid pursue. 
Winging the turbid whirlwind's frantic haste, 

Pointing the levin's arrowy effluence 
Over the mildewed harvest's hungry waste. 

Breathing the fetid breath of pestilence, 
And crying havoc to the dogs of war, 

Let slip on unresisting innocence? 
Why suffereth He that thus a rival mar 

His cherished work — thro' devastated fields 
Borne on triumphant in ensanguined car? — 

Him, who with power to rescue, tamely yields 
His helpless charge to persecuting hate. 

Nor His own offspring from the torturer shields. 
But sits aloof, callously obdurate. 

While but the will is lacking to redeem— 
Him, how shall fitting stigma designate? 



' Feeling has 
no fellow.' 



* But 'tis not thus thy calmer doubts esteem 

The loving-kindness that with open hand 
Dispenses bounty in perennial stream. 

Oft hast thou proved, while in a foreign land 
A sojourner, as all thy fathers were. 

Thou pacest painfully the barren sand. 
How o'er thy path watches a Comforter, 

And scatters manna daily for thy food. 
And bids the smitten rocks that barrier 

The arid track, well out with gurgling flood, 
And oft to shade of green oasis guides, 

And, from pursuer thirsting for thy blood, 
Such scanty shelter as is thine provides : 

And though full oft that shelter fails, and though 



13 

Its torn defence demoniac glee derides, 

Yet not for this the cheerful faith forego, 
That memory of uncounted benefits 

And conscious instincfs still, small tones bestow. 
Charge not thy God with aught that unbefits 

Tenderest compassion, nor believe that He 
With hardened apathetic scorn commits 

A favoured people throughout life to be 
Subject to bondage. Doubt not of His will 

To rescue from that galling tyranny. 
Yet, if in His despite creation still 

In thraldom groan and travail — what remains? 
What but that strength is wanting to fulfil The inevita- 

His scheme of mercy? What but that He reigns, biesugges- 

tion. 

Not as sole wielder of omnipotence, 

But o'er a world unconquered yet, maintains 
Encounter with opposing influence. 

Which He shall surely quell, but which can stay. 
Awhile unquelled, His mightier providence. 

'And doth this sadden only, or dismay? 

Grieves it that He, whose follower thou art. 
Rules not supreme with unresisted sway? 

Or that, the progress of His grace to thwart, 
Satanic might the host of hell arrays? 

And doth it not a thrill of joy impart. 
That not alone need barren prayer and praise 

Thine homage be, — thy choicest offering 
The formal dues prescribed obedience pays? 

Henceforth with firmer step approach thy King. 
Some puny succour, thou, in thy degree, -To the help 

Some feeble aid, thou, even thou, mayst bring ! of 'he Lord 

. . , , against the 

In the fell conflict ragmg ceaselessly mighty." 

Around, thou, too, mayst join — thou, too, engage 
In that dread feud, twin with eternity, 

Which faithful angels and archangels wage 
Against the powers of darkness, to extend, 

O'er realms retained in demon vassalage. 
Their Sovereign's pure dominion, and to blend 

All worlds beneath one righteous governance, 
Into one kingdom which shall have no end. 



' Wouldst thou, if haply so thou mayst, advance 

That blessed consummation ? Wouldst thou speed 
The lingering hour of Earth's deliverance? 

Arise — the naked clothe, the hungry feed, 
The sick and wounded tend — soothe the distressed. 

If thy weak arm cannot protect, yet plead 
With bold rebuke the cause of the oppressed, 

Kindling hot shame on Mammon's votaries, 
Abashed, at least, in lucre's grovelling quest. 

And, in the toil-worn serf, a glad surprise 
Awakening — when, from brute despondency, 

Taught to look up to heaven with dazzled eyes. — 
Thus mayst thou do God service, — thus apply 

Thyself, within thy limit, to abate 
What wickedness thou seest, or misery : 

Thus, in a Sacred Band, associate 
New levies, from the adverse ranks of Sin 

Converted — against Sin confederate. 
Or — if by outward act to serve, or win 

Joint followers to the standard of thy Lord, 
Thy lot forbid, — turn, then, thy thought within : 

Be each recess of thine own breast explored : 
There, o'er thy passions be thy victories won : 

There, be the altar of thy faith restored, 
And thou, a living sacrifice, thereon 

Present thyself. — This ever mayst thou do, 
Nor, doing this, wilt aught have left undone.' 

Here ceased the Voice, commissioned to renew 

Truth, which, of old, when Bactrian sage began 
Nature's dim maze to thread with slenderest clue. 

Its doubtful scope and dark design to scan, 
With inward whisper hopeful witness bare. 

And justified the ways of God to man. 
And suddenly its warning ceased ; but ere 

It ceased, the scales had fallen from my eyes. 
And I beheld. — And shall I not declare 

What my uncurtained vision testifies? 
'Here am I; Shall coward lips the word of life suppress ? — 
send me.' 'j-j-^g oraclc vouchsafcd from Heaven, disguise? 

Nay : as one crying in the wilderness. 

Where none else hearken, to the vacant air 



15 

And stolid mountains utters his distress, 

E'en so will I too cry aloud, ' Prepare 
Before Him the Lord's way. Make His path straight,* 

Nor heed though none regard me, nor forbear 
Though all revile, but patiently await 

Till, like light breath that panting meads exhale, 
And scornful zephyrs lightly dissipate, 

But which, full surely, down the echoing vale, 
Shall roll with sounding current, swift and loud. 

My slighted message likewise shall prevail, 
Entering the heart of many a mourner, bowed 

Beneath despair, and with inspiring voice 
Calling to hope* to cleave her midnight cloud, *Q!i. faiih 

And bidding grief, in hope's new dawn, rejoice. 

This is a creed which long since came to me after earnest 
inward communings, and which, though subsequent reflec- 
tion has in some few particulars modified it, I still in sub- 
stance hold, clinging to it with a grateful consciousness of 
ever multiplying obligations. . . . Still, it is here 
offered, not as ascertained truth, but merely as a sample 
of those guesses at truth by which alone ordinary mortals 
need hope to promote the common cause of humanity in 
any of its higher bearings. Such guesses, however, when 
harmonizing with all the conditions of their subject-matter, 
may fairly claim to be provisionally regarded as truths — 
nay, to be adopted as working hypotheses until superseded 
by new hypotheses capable of doing the same work better; 
in which supersession none ought to rejoice, nor, as re- 
spects sincere truth-seekers, will rejoice, more cordially 
than the propounders of the discredited doctrines. It is 
in this spirit and with these reservations that the articles 
of faith above recited are submitted for consideration. 
How much soever they may fall short of the truth, they 
are, I feel, in the absence of any nearer approach to the 
truth, capable of rendering excellent service. However 
faintly and hazily the outlines of Deity be shown in them, 
the Deity whom they so imperfectly delineate is yet one to 
whom may justly be ascribed glory in the highest, one 
worthy of all trust, love, and adoration — of an adoration, 
too, inclusive not more of praise than prayer. — Wor/i 
cited, pp. 272-286. 



'Owe no man anything but love,' wrote one 
Who bent in homage to the faith of none. 

Endued with zeal as clear, 
Now might some mental magnate, to convey 
Deliverance from doubting in our day, 

Expound ingly appear, — 
Larger in thought, to meet the larger lore 
Licentious minds now wield than they of yore,- 

How would the church's ear 
Open to welcome the refreshing word. 
Lifting its faith to hope, ere wholly heard ! 

Meanwhile, how can it fear 
Extinction in the shade cast by new light, 
Save as the Sun of Love offends its sight? 



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